Pope’s meeting with Kim Davis not an endorsement, Vatican says

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The Vatican has clarified the details of the Pope’s meeting with Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who spent six days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Vatican deputy spokesman Father Thomas Rosica said the audience, which included several dozen other people, didn’t amount to an endorsement.

“The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis, and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” Rosica said.

The session, on September 24 in Washington, sparked a bit of controversy after the Pope’s visit to the United States.

Davis’ lawyer, Mat Staver, said the audience lasted 10 minutes and was just between the Pope, his client and her husband. He said pictures taken will be released at some point.

“I was humbled to meet Pope Francis. Of all people, why me?” Davis said in a statement.

“Pope Francis was kind, genuinely caring, and very personable. He even asked me to pray for him. Pope Francis thanked me for my courage and told me to ‘stay strong.’ ”

Staver, who didn’t attend the meeting, said the Pope hugged Davis and gave her and her husband each a rosary, which she in turn gave to her parents. Rosaries are common gifts from popes to visitors.

Davis’ father and mother are lifelong Catholics. She is an Apostolic Christian after a religious conversion four and a half years ago.

Initially, the Vatican barely acknowledged the meeting.

“I don’t deny that the meeting took place,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi. “But I have no comment to add.”

The meeting added a partisan wrinkle to Pope Francis’ trip last week.

While he strongly defended religious freedom in speeches at the White House, Congress and Philadelphia’s Independence Mall, he avoided taking public stances on particular political issues.

Gay and lesbian Catholics called the Pope’s meeting with Davis “puzzling” and said it “throws a wet blanket” on his trip to the United States last week.

While in Washington last week, Francis also met with the Little Sisters of the Poor, nuns who are suing the Obama administration over the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. That meeting, too, took place behind closed doors.

A federal judge ordered Davis to jail this month over her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the Kentucky county where she’s clerk. Before being ordered to jail, Davis also refused to allow clerks in her office to issue licenses. She cited her biblical opposition to same-sex marriage.

Since her release, she has allowed the licenses to be issued but only with her name and title removed. Each license includes a statement saying it is issued “pursuant to a court order.”